


Steady Pace of Time

by 1shinymess (magpie4shinies)



Category: Men in Black (Movies)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-16
Updated: 2012-12-16
Packaged: 2017-11-21 06:02:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/594278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magpie4shinies/pseuds/1shinymess
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jay settles back into normal following his efforts to stop Boris the Animal.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Steady Pace of Time

**Author's Note:**

  * For [pollyrepeat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pollyrepeat/gifts).



> Spoiler alert for the third movie. You get enough here to know the big arcs in the story. If you don't want to be spoiled, please watch that first. You don't have to watch it to understand this story, though.

J dragged himself out of bed half an hour later than he normally did, still feeling like he could sleep another four hours and stiff with bruises that had risen over the night. The digital clock in the corner, calibrated to MiB time, glowed at 6:33. 

He dragged himself forward to the shower and staggered under the punishing heat of the spray, feeling the worst of the cobwebs clearing away. He still ached from the beating he'd taken, and his left arm twinged when he reached for the shampoo, but overall he found he was pleased with his status.

A little banged up or a dead partner/Bogladite invasion. Easy choice. He scrubbed himself as dry as he could with one of his softer towels and pulled on the black boxer briefs and white undershirt that made up the lowest layer of his suit, then called K.

There was no trace of sleep in his partner's voice when he answered. “J.”

J rolled his eyes. “No, see, I'm J. You answer the phone with your name. Or, like most of us on this planet tend to, you say 'hello.'”

“Hello. Is everything all right?”

“Yeah, yeah, it's fine...” J leaned into the wall, leaning his arm out to press into the edge of the corner where the hall turned into the kitchen. He hadn't hesitated before calling, but now, with a slow, slightly awkward silence stretching between them, he regretted the impulse. “I, uh...” 

“...yeah?”

“...wanted to know if I was still on suspension?” J offered slowly, voice tentative as it was occasionally with K and never with anyone else. 

K, at least, didn't call him on the obvious fabrication. “Did anything happen after we left work yesterday?”

J flattened his back against the wall, the line the corner had imprinted into his arm whitening and then flushing as blood rushed into the faintly bruised skin. “Unless you count a really good nights' sleep--”

“Then no. See you in...47 minutes.”

“Was that – ” J found his mouth quirking up faintly. “Did that just happen? We reached the end of a reasonably civil conversation and you didn't immediately hang up on me. It only took what, fourteen years? Progress, K. Progress.”

K hung up, but J was expecting that. He found his mouth curling into a smile even as he pulled the full carafe from his automatic percolator and poured a cup of coffee. Steam rose from the liquid in wafting curls, brushing his cheeks as he lifted the mug to his mouth and took a sip. His mouth curled into a smile around the rim of the mug and it lingered when he lowered it.

~

“Hey, baby,” J murmured to his '67 Impala. The black paint gleamed even in the dull light of the parking garage, and he found his fingers lingering over the smooth front fender as he strolled around the front half of the car. He truly enjoyed the drive into work when he was able to take his lady. “How are those tires settling in, sweetheart? You look like you're resting level now...”

There was something in the simple narrowing of focus down to his car that eased nerves he hadn't realized were starting to prickle the closer he got to being at work. J traced the seam of the window to the door and then dropped to the handle and tugged. There was a gentle heat at the smooth tips of his fingers as his DNA was sampled and approved for entry. He smiled at the automatic snap of the doors unlocking. “That's my girl.”

The seat had been slowly conforming to his body for two years, and now it was a cradle that balanced support and comfort perfectly. His car was purring around him, sleek and beautiful just like him, and the strange atmosphere that had built between he and K had been cleared away like a bad smell. “Gonna be a good day, baby. Lets do this.”

~

His first clue that maybe he'd been a bit too optimistic was K waiting for him at the entrance to the garage. 

“We've got a Top 10 sighting in Harlem and O wants us there 10 minutes ago. Move over.”

“Uh. I'm sorry, did you just tell me to move over in my car?” J asked automatically. “Nuh uh. I'll drive.”

K stared him down for a long ten seconds while J smiled pleasantly, his shades cutting down the intensity of K's disgruntlement, and then K's expression softened faintly in what J was a little shocked to realize was his version of a faint smile before he turned on his heel and crossed around the car to get into the passenger side. J was balanced on the edge of boasting or letting the concession slide. He glanced at K out of the corner of his eye to find him studying the manila folder he'd brought thoughtfully, then pulled away from the curb. “Who are we looking at?”

K didn't look up from the folder. “Elby-17. Last spotted at a Quick Stop on Third and Green.”

“Hm.” J circled the lot and pulled back into traffic. “Elby-17...aka Lobster Boy, right? Bipodic crustacean.”

K hummed in the affirmative and then snapped the folder closed. “Looks like he's up to his old tricks.”

“I can't remember what he was listed for,” J admitted. “Weren't a few agents were injured the last time he was sighted?”

“He's a black market chocolate-supplier,” K sighed. “Damn shame about the agents. They underestimated him. F's lungs were never the same after that.”

“Black market _chocolate-supplier_ ,” J repeated as he merged left. It was almost too good to pass up, but K was a master at downplaying danger through simple word-smithing and J had been caught out repeatedly before he'd figured out how to read between the lines and know when K was yanking his chain. 

After a few minutes of silence, K smirked faintly and settled back into his seat. “He's a time-traveler. Apparently, we'll catch him roughly a week after he starts operating...whenever that is, in the future, but he managed to hit through various points in history. This is the second time he's emerged in this time-period, oddly enough.”

J blinked. “A time-traveler? What the hell, man? First, time-travel is impossible and now we get it twice in one week?”

“It's still outlawed in the future,” K said. He reached out and turned the radio on and immediately moved his hand to the tuner.

“Ah!” J reached out and swatted his hand away. “Absolutely not. I am NOT listening to that old-ass stuff you like, not in my own damn car.”

K dropped his hand but turned a mildly disapproving stare on J. “Elvis is considered an exemplary ambassador.”

J cocked his head while he checked the rear and sideview mirrors. “Not to denigrate the dude, but was that before or after the drugs?”

K sighed. “That was a cousin in his clan. He was called home to assume his duties as the chief's heir and they didn't realize FiVis had manipulated his aptitude scores until after he'd already been installed as the replacement ambassador and started making trouble.”

“Ahh. Always wondered about that.” J noted their ramp coming up and took it. “By the way, how soon is soon? Are we talking red button soon, or...?”

“Lean on the speed limit,” K advised. “Elby was spotted casing a local warehouse that rents out space for companies.”

J merged into the speedier traffic cautiously, increasing his speed to match and then exceed the speed limit. “Currently housing, what, a few tons of Nestle powder?”

“A mixed order for a chocolatier's convention,” K said.

Like that explained why two senior agents had been assigned. “Hm.” 

“The contents of the warehouse currently run at 2.9 billion.”

 _Two point..._ “What?”

K glanced over at J and shrugged. “Chocolate is big money and it's a big warehouse. Point is, people will notice.”

“...right,” J said slowly, clearing his throat twice to get it down to its normal range. “OK. Do we have a usual time frame he operates in?”

K shrugged. J resisted lifted one hand from the steering wheel and rubbed his forehead. “This is going to be one of those assignments, isn't it?”

~

“I ever tell you I hate it when I'm right?” J asked K casually, checking Elby's position with a stray sideview mirror that had been wrenched off of one of the few cars around when Elby brought down the facade in his attempts to deal with them. 

K didn't respond. He tapped a button on his watch, twisted a dial, then lifted it to his mouth and spoke. “Elby-17, you are in violation of three MiB codes that we can see plainly. You are advised to turn in your weapons and come peacefully or we will use deadly force.”

J cocked his head. “I don't think – ” 

**ELBY-17, YOU ARE IN VIOLATION OF THREE MIB CODES THAT WE CAN SEE PLAINLY. YOU ARE ADVISED TO TURN IN YOUR WEAPONS AND COME PEACEFULLY OR WE WILL USE DEADLY FORCE.**

“Damn!” J pressed the heel of his palm into his ear as he heard everything dimly, as though through a pair of headphones or ear plugs. 

Then there were no less than three explosions, but possibly more he couldn't keep track of. He was hurled back against a wall and for a moment, lost track of everything as his vision went black and his balance went to shit. 

Light and color returned to his world in stabbing patches. Two cars across the street were overturned – he couldn't be sure, bent over and dizzy as he was, but one seemed to be flattened on a rear corner turned over on a mailbox. The mailbox itself was punched in from the other direction, oddly, and the tatters of shredded letters fluttered down in the oddly still air. 

J blinked and realized he couldn't hear anything as K said something and all he could hear was a loud, high ringing and what sounded like a wind tunnel. 

_Fantastic_ , J said automatically, shaking his head and rubbing his ear. It was odd, feeling faint vibrations in his throat from the speech and not being able to hear the words.

K shrugged and straightened his sleeves, then reached into his jacket and removed a small, cheap looking spiral notebook and a pen. He scribbled for a moment before handing it over.

**Elby went back to the future. Containment team is on its way. Medical after reports are turned in.**

J rolled his eyes and held out a hand, cocking a brow when K refused to hand over the pen. _Oh, really?_ He pulled his own pen out, mouth pursed in irritation, and quickly wrote out his reply. 

_Business as usual. Where's Doc Brown when you need him? Side-note: pre-schoolers know more about sharing than you._

K rolled his eyes and J leaned against one of the solid standing walls, keeping an eye on the chaos as civilians began creeping out of the buildings. A few were obviously distraught from the cars, some had camera phones out. A couple even looked like they were having issues with their hearing too. J made a note for the containment team and sighed, then flipped K's confiscated pad open. _Business as usual?_

K cocked his head, mouth quirked in the smallest of smiles.

**Author's Note:**

> For the love of any higher power, please tell me someone else got a chuckle from the title.


End file.
